Class I carriers report 2020 first quarter earnings

May 5, 2020


Net Earnings: Decreased 5% to $1.19 billion.
Revenue: Decreased 6% to $5.4 billion.
Operating Income: Increased 2% to $1.8 billion.
Operating Expenses:Decreased 6.7% to $3.6 billion.
Operating Ratio: Improved by 4 points to 65.2%.
Link to read BNSF’s full earnings report.
 

Net Earnings: Increased to C$1.01 billion from C$786 million.
Earnings Per Share: Diluted earnings per share increased 31% to C$1.42 from C$1.08 and adjusted diluted EPS increased by 4% to C$1.22.
Revenue: Remained flat at C$3.5 billion.
Operating Income: Increased to C$1.215 million from C$1.08 billion.
Operating Expenses: Decreased 5% to C$2.33 billion from C$2.46 billion.
Operating Ratio: Improved by 3.8 points to 65.7%; Adjusted operating ratio improved 1.5 points to 65.7% from 67.2%.
Link to read CN’s full earnings report.
 

Net Earnings: Decreased to C$409 million from C$434 million.
Earnings Per Share: Diluted earnings per share decreased 4% to $2.98; adjusted diluted earnings per share increased 58% to $4.42.
Revenue: Increased 16% to C$2.04 billion from C$1.77 billion.
Operating Income: Increased 54% to C$834 million from C$534 million.
Operating Expenses: Decreased to C$1.209 billion from C$1.224 billion.
Operating Ratio: Improved 1,010 basis points to 59.2%.
Link to read CP’s full earnings report.
 

Net Earnings: Decreased 8% to $770 million from $834 million.
Earnings Per Share: Decreased 2% to $1.00.
Revenue: Decreased 5% to $2.85 billion from $3.01 billion.
Operating Income: Decreased 3% to $1.17 billion from $1.22 billion.
Operating Expenses: Decreased 7% to $1.68 billion.
Operating Ratio: Improved to a first quarter record of 58.7% from 59.5%
Link to read CSX’s full earnings report.
 

Net Earnings: Increased to $151.7 million from $102.7 million.
Earnings Per Share: Increased to $1.58 per diluted share from $1.02.
Revenue: Increased 8% to a record $731.7 million from $674.8 million
Operating Income: Increased to $288.8 million from $160.3 million.
Operating Expenses: Decreased to $442.9 million from $514.5 million
Operating Ratio: Improved 15.7 points to 60.5% from 76.2%; adjusted operating ratio improved 6.5 points to 59.7% from 66.2%
Link to read KCS’s full earnings report.
 

Net Earnings: Decreased 44% to $381 million from $677 million.
Earnings Per Share: Diluted earnings per share decreased to $1.47 from $2.51.
Revenue: Decreased to $2.63 billion from $2.8 billion.
Operating Income: Decreased to $568 million from $966 million.
Operating Expenses: Increased to $2.06 billion from $1.87 billion.
Operating Ratio: Declined to 78.4% from 66.0%.
Link to read NS’s full earnings report.
 

Net Earnings: Increased to $1.5 billion from $1.4 billion.
Earnings Per Share: Increased to $2.15 per diluted share from $1.93 per diluted share
Revenue: Decreased 3% to $5.2 billion from $5.4 billion
Operating Income: Increased 9% to $2.14 billion from $1.96 billion
Operating Expenses: Decreased 10% to $3.09 billion from $3.4 billion
Operating Ratio: Improved 4.6 points to 59.0% from 63.6%
Link to read UP’s full earnings report.
 


Notes: 

  • Operating ratio is a railroad’s operating expenses expressed as a percentage of operating revenue, and is considered by economists to be the basic measure of carrier profitability. The lower the operating ratio, the more efficient the railroad.
  • All comparisons are made to 2019’s first-quarter results for each railroad.
  • All figures for CN & CP are in Canadian currency, except for earnings per share for CP